EckerNet.Com

Today, Gov. Pawlenty signed an executive order to enforce federal immigration law at the state level.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty outlined a series of measures to crack down on illegal immigration today, signing an executive order to allow some Minnesota law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law for the first time.

Now I have yet to be able to find the actual text of the executive order*, so at the moment I’m relying on the very questionable reporting abilities of the Star Tribune. So take everything here with a boulder sized grain of salt.

According to the article, the bulk of the EO regards forcing state employers/contractors to verify citizenship and cutting off state aid to sanctuary cities. Now both of these sound very good in theory, but the devil is always in the details. For example, how is citizenship verified?? If it cannot be verified what then?? Penalties for non-compliance?? Define “Sanctuary City”. How much state aid is cut?? What sort of timetable is there for compliance?

Now being the one-trick-pony that I am, obviously anything cracking down on illegal immigration peaks my interest. And I have to give the Gov credit for hitting this issue. How much credit I give is unknown at the moment pending alot more information. Also I’m somewhat suspicious of the timing of this announcement. Certainly the topic of immigration has relatively cooled of late. Making the announcement now is a little odd. I’m not necessarily suggesting there are ill-intended goals here, I just am not seeing the forces that resulted in this EO. And since I’m naturally a cynical, untrusting (of politicians) bastard, I’m suspicious.

I’ll post more when I get a copy of the executive order and can see the details for myself.

* I’ve put in a request for the full executive order, but I did it after business hours so I’m not surprised I haven’t received a copy yet.

UPDATE : MN Majority has some more details on the announcement, as well as video of the press conference, presented below. Granted this makes me feel a little better that this is all “on the level”, however, I would still like to be able to see it in writing. More on what was offered below

Basically this all consisted of two parts. First there were four Executive Orders that had the rule of law that he signed. Those are :

1. Minnesota law enforcement officers (presumably this is just the Highway Patrol?) will work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help enforce immigration laws.
2. New state employees and contractors doing business with the state will be required to verify citizenship through an Internet-based system operated by the federal government (they’re talking about E-Verify).
3. Department of Public Safety will conduct a review of Minnesota driver license database to catch duplicate photos and examine for possible fraud (this better be automated or it sounds like a pretty intensive effort!).
4. Department of Public Safety will coordinate law enforcement summits to coordinate training in targeting criminal activity related to illegal immigration.

In addition he had a bunch of proposals he’s asking the legislature to make, including

1. Allow peace officers to inquire as to the immigration status of persons they come into contact with.
2. New and enhanced penalties ($5000) for employers that hire illegals. Basically, employers should use the E-Verify program.
3. Increased penalties for identity theft and making document forgery a new separate crime
4. Broaden and enhance human trafficking laws in Minnesota

However, the one problem here though is he’s just asking the legislature to enact these proposals. And the proposals are fairly vague. Well, guess what, the Democrats have a veto-proof majority now. Not a chance in hell that they’ll actually do something about immigration.

So either he just wants to score political points for a future election, or else he’s looking to pin the Minnesota DFL against the wall. Granted future GOP candidates could use that as an election issues against DFL incumbents.

However, I do like the executive orders, and they are a hell of a start, and I find it hard for anyone to argue with them. My guess is that the Minnesota DFL will essentially ignore everything presented here and hope it goes away. It’s not really a good issue for the DFL to make a stand on, but if they just ignore it, it’ll barely see the light of day. And I don’t think Pawlenty is sufficiently dedicated on this issue to make it the persistent theme that he would need to do to actually get something to happen. Hopefully I’m wrong.

Anyway, he’s the press conference…or at least portions of it.